A Northampton boy is finally undergoing surgery on his broken leg - after his operation had to be cancelled four times because of pressure on operating theatres.

Hospital administrators have apologised for the delay in treating 14-year-old Lee Shanahan, admitting the situation was "unacceptable".

On each occasion the teenager had to go without food in preparation for the operation, before being told that an emergency case had to take priority.

Northampton General Hospital said in a statement, there was "a tremendous amount of pressure on our theatres at the moment".

Lee was left in pain after the first operation

Lee broke his leg on 3 September when he fell off his bike.

The teenager had one operation, but was left in pain and told he needed to go into surgery again.

On 16 September, he was told to expect his operation and put on "nil by mouth" in preparation for surgery.

But the operation had to be cancelled and then the same thing happened on three further occasions in a week.

His grandmother Kath Gayton told BBC Radio Northampton on Monday: "There's a lot of patients getting similar treatment."

In a statement, the hospital said: "We acknowledge the delays in Lee's treatment are unacceptable.

"But there is a tremendous amount of pressure on our theatres at the moment, especially Orthopaedics.

"Normally, we would not expect a child to wait this long."